you pack away night gowns pyjamas unused nappies take the oxygen tank sterile syringes all back to the hospice get home without a clue as to what next: take out garbage water plants defrost fridge drink it dry of juices open all canned meats sprinkle every bit of seasoning across the earth by the lake empty vases of roses heather drop them down there too take from walls strip from frames all your family photos down every bottle left in the bar scrub with the soaps still left in the bathroom make up with every cotton bud pad and brush apply rose to cheeks deathly shadows to eyes try on lashes and wigs in the hallway mirror fake furs from the wardrobe scarves and high heels then your son crying can you read me again from where you left off you throw open the bird cage then the window wide

the poem by Genowefa Fijałkowska-Jakubowska comes from the collection -

ze mnie robaka i z robaka wiersze of me a worm and of the worm verses(off_press, 2013)

poems from Polish translated by Marek Kazmierski

I start the month with the brave poem of a brave poet who challenges all kinds of rhetoric etiquettes, rules, taboos, socially and culturally used (and allowed) to be used when describing human, woman's body. Wiosenne porządki, the Spring cleaning.... after the inexpressible drama of daughter who stays here to live on, to tidy up and to face the unbearable and inevitable everyday life.

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